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Monday, July 8, 2013

The Prayer of Elder Evmenios That Pleased the Lord

Fr. Evmenios was born in 1931 in Ethia of Monophatsion in the province of Heraklion of Crete, the eighth child of a poor family of faithful Christians. He became a monk at the age of 17; he struggled to cultivate his soul with love and prayer and was tested very harshly by leprosy; but later also, while a priest, by a demonic influence which tormented him in body and soul, but was freed of it after many prayers, vigils and exorcisms in monasteries of Crete, such as the monasteries of Koudoumas and Panagia Kalyviani.

The holy Elder’s personal ascetic struggles are not widely known. However, the following prayer of his is of particular importance; a prayer that is included along with much more information on his life and the witness of many people who had met him (as well as many testimonies about his holy spiritual gifts, in the excellent book by Monk Simon, Fr. Evmenios – The Hidden Saint of our Time, Athens 2010, ed. 2, pp. 133-134 (in Greek).

Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou, Cyprus, narrates the following story:

A very important event from Elder Evmenios’ life that I recall, is a prayer that he had coined:

"Lord Jesus Christ, I want You to save all people.

And God was pleased.

And then I said: Lord Jesus Christ, I want You to save all the Catholics. And all the Protestants, my Christ, I want You to save them.

And God was pleased.

I also want You to save the Muslims and all those who belong to all the religions; I want You to save even the atheists.

And God was very pleased.

And I told him: My Christ, I want you to save all those who have fallen asleep, from the time of Adam until now.

And God was very pleased.

And I told him: My God, I want you to save Judas also. And finally I added: I want you to save the devil also.

And God was saddened."

I asked him: "Why was God sad?"

"Because God wants to, but they don’t (want to be saved)," he replied; "there is not a trace of good will for salvation in the devil."

"Hold on," I told him, "how did you know when God was pleased and when He was sad?"

And he said to me: "If your heart becomes one with Christ’s heart, you feel what He feels."

So, can you perceive the breadth of this man’s heart? This was one of the most powerful things I have ever heard; and I have never heard something like it by anyone else. And he perceived those things from the intensity of Grace. Depending on the degree of Grace, he was able to perceive His sadness or His pleasure, to whatever he said or did.